A Book a Day? What's Up With That?


Hi, and welcome to this year-long project. So what's this all about and how did it happen, you might ask. In mid 2007, artist Noah Scalin decided to make a skull out of anything he could find, every day for a year. It stretched him in ways he never imagined, as an artist, a writer and a person. His experience turned into a blog that went viral, and then a book.

Others have picked up on the idea: 365 Hearts, 365 Masks, 365 Bears drawn on a cellphone, 365 paper napkin mustaches.
I wanted to play, too, and I chose books. I love books, I know a bit about making books (thanks to my talented book-maker sister, Marilyn Worrix), and they're broad enough in definition to give me a lot of creative leeway.

The whole point is not really the books. The idea is to stretch myself in many ways as an artist and a person, to set up a discipline, stick with it and see what that teaches me.

I hope you'll join with me and follow along on the journey chronicled here, and let me know what you think.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Book 112 - A Leather-Hinged Journal

I saw a picture of a journal with leather hinges for the spine online yesterday that was just so pretty I had to try to make it. No instructions with it. But I stared at the photos (a few different angles) and tried to picture how it would be stitched. Then I did that.

The front and back are mat board covered with a lovely  hand-made paper with leaf inclusions that I found, at all places, in Office Depot. (Yes, they are all over Mexico.) Instead of a spine, there are two leather "hinges" stitched to the front and back. The stitching, a variation of the longstitch binding, is done over the leather hinge straps.

When I do this book again, I'll make a few changes in the way the ends are stitched. The other problem with it is that it really does not want to lie flat when closed. I have fussed with getting the stitching centered on the leather straps and it helps. Perhaps, like yesterday's cracker box book (which is now beautifully flat), all it needs is a few hours under weights. I'll try that.

The book has 10 signatures of 6 sheets each, making 120 book leaves, 240 pages both sides, of hand-torn text-weight paper.  Stitching is with waxed linen thread.







2 comments:

  1. Ohh, I love this look!
    I got my Alisa Golden book this week. I always need to read thru the entire subject before I go back and start a project so that's where I'm at. Great book...getting me anxious to put something together! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Golden book will gives you weeks worth of ideas to try out. Have fun!

    ReplyDelete